Young Slovenian rider Jure Kocjan (Carmiooro - A-Style) was the surprise victor of a chaotic third stage of the 39th Etoile des Bessèges. Torrid weather conditions meant that the etape reine was effectively halved to just 51 kilometres, making the col de Baraque the day's main obstacle. However, before this point, there had already been controversy, as the peloton was directed wrongly and were forced to do a U-turn. For 20 minutes, with a new start to the stage to be given in the horrible conditions, the riders were in two minds as whether to restart the race.

However, they did get back on their bikes to race the truncated stage. On the col de Baraque, 20 kilometres from the finish, two riders blew the race apart: last year's winner Yuri Trofimov (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) and Jure Kocjan (Carmioroo - A-Style). Holding 20 seconds over the top, they staved off the chase of a truncated bunch into La Grand-Combe. At the finish though, it was 24 year-old Kocjan who outgunned his better-known rival for the stage win and, with it, the race leadership. This result is quite a coup for him and his small Carmioroo team; it remains to be seen whether they can hold on to the lead.
Seven seconds behind, Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil) finished in no man's land for third place, with Mathieu Ladagnous (Francaise des Jeux) eighteen seconds down, leading in a group of eight which included French domestic
stars Fédrigo, Voeckler and Dupont.

The day's drama wasn't over yet. After the finish, Trofimov expressed dismay at being double-crossed: apparently, the agreement was that Kocjan would leave the stage to the Bouyges Telecom man in exchange for the latter's working to increase the gap. As the results show, this didn't exactly happen. Angry Bouygues Telecom directeur sportif Jean-Francois Rodriguez said: "Yuri [Trofimov] escaped with a dishonest rider. It really isn't a nice mentality. In the coming days, we aren't going to show him the time of day. We are going to try to explode the overall via a strong show of teamwork."